Following the footsteps of previous TUF coaches Jens Pulver and B.J. Penn, recently announced team-heads Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will see action against each other at the Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale rather than wait for an unrelated event to face off in the Octagon.

UFC President Dana White stated the organization’s intent to pair the outspoken middleweights in late 2011 when the season concludes at the post-UFC 130 press conference where he also explained the decision to do so was only related to TUF 14 and not a permanent change in format.

Miller and Bisping were named as coaches last week after months of speculation on who would fill the roles and one of the frontrunners, Chael Sonnen, forcibly bowing out due to licensing issues. Taping is expected to begin next month with the first episode airing in early September.

Not being a coach on this seasons TUF might actually work out in chaels advantage. If he’s able to get licensed in June, then he can potentially fight in the early fall, whereas taking the Tuf gig woulda set him back a few more months.

Awesome move by the UFC, not only do we get this fight for free but they set up there new #1 MW contender in front of millions of people that maybe wouldnt have seen it otherwise. Still feel Bisping wins here but Miller wont get put away- kind of wish he had gotten a fight before Bisping as Miller hasnt fought in over a year.

This could be one of the best TUF’s ever. Bisping and Miller are both outspoken, and Miller is funny as hell. He shouldn’t have any problem provoking Bisping, who’s likely to react in a controversial way. Really looking forward to this, and to their fight.

I read an article on another site about how it would be best for the UFC to NOT have overly entertaining coaches for this season. The reason given was that they still need to build up the 135 and 45 weight divisions with recognizable stars to get the casual fan interested. Example given, Season 5 where they needed to build back up the LW division. Sure there was some bad blood between BJ and Pulver, but they focused on the fighters and look how many from that season are still in the UFC, Maynard, Diaz, Wiman, Gamburyan, Lauzon, Cole Miller, even Ruediger and Rob Emerson fought several times for Zuffa.
Look at that in comparison to season 10 where it was all about the coaches (when they needed more HW’s) and outside of Nelson and Schaub who were gonna get contracts anyway, the only other fighter to work his way into the UFC was Mitrione. Or look at this season where it was supposed to be all about Brock and there might be two fighters (if we’re lucky) that can hack it in the UFC.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch the next season. And I’m excited by the entertainment value that both Bisping and Mayhem bring to the show. I just wish they would get back to focusing more on the fighters and building the divisions as opposed to giving their established talent extra media time.